Daily Treasures: Nature's Little Magic Trick

Happy Friday my Friends,

Every so often little things in life like a spider making a web, and the fall of a leaf come together in such a way that it creates a magic act.
I was near our fallen barn and I saw this amazing sight:

A leaf suspended in mid fall, defying the laws of gravity. A great magic trick of nature. Seems God can prove he's a good magician. It's amazing how effective this trick is on the eyes. Who knew spider webs were such a good ingredient for a magic trick.      

I know I've seen at least one of other time on a walk to get the mail. That one was caught perpetually doing it's leafy dance. I thought it was the most amazing beautiful thing. It put a smile on my face.
What simple things are putting smiles on your faces? Let me know in the comments.

I hope you all have a magical weekend and God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

Daily Treasures: Rainbows

Happy gloomy day friends,

We've been getting a lot of rain here lately, but the upside to this, especially if there's a little sun, is the chance to see rainbows. Yesterday we got one of those rare treats rainbows. It started with a couple low to the ground  rainbows:

Then we got blessed with double rainbows:

One could say we were rich in rainbows. Kinda wish there was a pot of gold at the end of them.

Seeing all those rainbows I can't help but think of two quotes first by Dolly Parton: "The way I see it if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."  The second quote is by Maya Angelou from her book Letter to My Daughter: "Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."

Have any of you guys seen some awesome weather related things. Tell me about it in the comments. I hope you guys have a good week, look to the skies, and God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

Pog Nostalgia

Happy start of the week friends,

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic, so bare with me if you have no clue what I'm talking about. When I was probably in my first year of middle school. There was a game from Hawaii that somehow went mainstream called Pogs, or Milkcaps, (Thanks Wikipedia for all that info.) It was like the fidget spinners of my day if you will, blew up big one day and gone as quick.

My sister and me played the game once maybe, except we didn't play for keeps. Basically you stacked the caps up then you threw a slammer at it to knock the pile over and whatever was facing up you kept, it was kinda how you kept score, if you were playing for keeps it was how you got new Pogs (again thank you Wikipedia for the refresher course).

They were like disk shaped trading cards if you will. Seems almost everything in the 90's had a Pog: Baywatch, Power Rangers, even Dungeons and Dragons! I actually wanted a Power Ranger one, but not from the linked set. It was a White Power Ranger I think I saw in an article in this Disney Adventures.

Due to lack of funds as kids Econut and I didn't collect a lot of them. We actually only had Pogs from three collections:

Apollo 13
I got these back in the day when Hardee's still did toys in their kid's meals. I even had the silver slammer. This is probably my favorite slammer of the two I had. It was like a giant coin. My favorite pog of this bunch  is the holographic A13/Moon one.

Lucky Charms
We collected a lot, if not all, of the pogs out of this collection. We even did the mail in to get the red storage case with the slammer. I liked this slammer had finger holds in on the back. My favorite pog of this group is Lucky holding the four leaf clover marshmallow on the red background.
Star Wars Episode 1
I actually didn't realize these were pogs as they came out my freshman year of high school. They were put out by Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut for Episode 1. I think you tried to collect certain colors to get prizes. I only had one and that was Queen Amidala.

Future of POGS
I recently came across this Android Police article by Matthew Sholtz. Seems the World Pog Federation is trying to do a POGs AR. If I understand it'll be like Pokemon Go played on your phone. I don't know if it ever reached it's goal, but that would have been interesting. I just wished they'd offered the scan you own collection into the game for more than just backers, that'd been cool just to revisit that fad of yesteryear, of course I could just dig my old ones out of storage and play the old fashioned way.

Did any of you guys have a favorite pog or slammer? Did you collect any during the craze? Let me know in the comments.

Have a good week my friends, play a game and God bless you.

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

Wanderings in Waynesville

Hello friends it's Friday again,

For today's post I'm gonna talk a little about some things that happened this Wednesday when Fangirl and I, who else, was in the town of Waynesville Wednesday where we took in a movie and dinner.

Smokey Mountain Cinema

We decided to take a matinées of Toy Story 4 at the reopened Smokey Mountain Cinema. We've missed this old friend of ours. The who place has been given a blue makeover. The concession stands that at one time split the room, but now is against the back wall. The ticket windows are just for show now, as you buy them from the concession stand now. The seats in the theater are nice and squishy and you can lean back in them a little now if you wish. Fangirl and I reminisced over the old water damaged panel that use to be on one of the ceiling panels, and when they'd fix it, this was back with the guy who originally owned it when we went to see movies. I'm just glad to see her open again.

Toy Story 4

Now I wasn't the most excited for the movie, I've watched them all, It's just not something I get excited about. Plus by the time we say it I was burnt out with it, cause it's like every product has used them in their commercials. But enough of my lamenting and on to the movie itself.

This movie was good, did manage to make me laugh. It had it's feels, not as bad as 3, but still heart string pulling. It also manage to have some jump scares that made me think of the Goosebumps movies. From the ending I think this is the final movie in the series, which if it is they ended it well.

A funny note, they were showing Annabelle in the theater next to us... an awesome mix don't you think?

Watami Sushi and Noodles

After the movie we went to eat at a restaurant that I hadn't seen before on Main Street called Watami Sushi and Noodles. It is a small little restaurant on a corner, but it was amazing. They include forks and chop sticks in your napkins so you can choose. I like that.

Fangirl had the Pink Lady sushi. It is salmon, crab, shrimp and avocado, rolled in rice paper with salmon eggs on top. She also had Japanese yaki soba with beef. It was a huge dish piled with noodles.

I had the Lemon Honey Chicken, named for it's sauce that includes broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots, and lemon wedges and a side of rice. It was really good though I mainly ate the chicken, mushrooms and some of the rice, I'm picky about how I like broccoli and carrots, never fear the left overs went to my Mom who I thought would enjoy it, and she did.
Depending on what you get the meal sized are huge, Fangirl and I had enough left overs for a second meal from our meals. Upside if you have a small stomach, you can have more of the yumminess later.

But I defiantly would suggest them when your in Waynesville. It's really good.

That ends this post. I hope you guys have a good weekend. Go see a movie, eat some good food, and God bless you!
Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

Summer Reads

Happy Monday my friends,

I recently did a write up of my summer playlist, well in this post I'll be covering my favorite  summer themed reads from over my life. It's not a big list, I may add to it as I find more. So for now enjoy this short list.

The Ghost at Dawn's House (Baby-Sitter's Club #9) by Ann M. Martin
This first book on this list is my favorite book of all in the Baby-Sitter's Club series, I mentioned this in my 9C list post. This book is a summer adventure involving secret passages, a possible haunting, and it got me interested in hollow books if I'm not mistaken. It contained everything a good ghost hunting story a kid needed, even though it probably was not the smartest idea for my over active imagination. I read this in elementary school so it should be safe for your kids, it's not too scary.

Baby-sitters on Board! (The Baby-Sittter's Club Special #1) by Ann M. Martin
Yes another BSC book, but this one is puts me in a summer mood more than the first one. I mean it's set on a cruise ship and at Disney World, that's a Summer vacation dream there. This book inspired some of my summer hi jinx when I was younger. One of the characters Mallory had just read Harriet the Spy so she plays spy the whole trip, which inspired me to play spy on a camping trip. I had a notebook and would document the people and things I saw at the campground.

Disney Adventures July 1st 1995
My sister and I were subscribed to the magazine as kids. I still have a lot of the old issues in one of my book shelves, but this and a few others that were my favorites went missing over the years. The main article was about Batman Forever and since this was during the POGS craze I think they had like the origin story of them, a topic I plan on talking about later. Anyway the big thing that I poured over was the "101 Ideas for Sizzling Summer Fun". This had so many great ideas for summer vacation, I think I'd take this out when I'd got for a walk just to inspire my imagination, I don't know if I did any of them, except maybe the one that said count you mosquito bites. Those bloodsuckers love me. *scratches bites*

Ghost Cat by Beverly Butler
This is another ghost related book. Even though I'd forgotten most of the book the one thing that I remember was the scene the main character has with her elder relation as he's showing her how to use a compass. This is a good summer ghost story. I read this in middle school so it might be better for your preteen maybe older child, cause there is some scary parts in this.

Horse Crazy Series by Virginia Vail
First I gotta thank the Unicorner for helping me remember the name of the series. I went through a stage were I was into horses so this book about a summer horse camp, was perfect for me, even though I'm too scared to ride one. There's only six books in the series. Each book follows a week at the six week camp. If you have a horse lover in need of a summer read this is a good series if you can find it, I read it in middle school I think, but I think it may be ok for kids.

YM June/July 1995
This come out around the same time as the Disney Adventure previously mention so it had Chris O'Donnell from Batman Forever. This also had an article with Summer ideas for teens called "Real Life Summer Sizzle", what was with using the word sizzle that year? It basically gives 95 ideas for the summer of '95. I have the article in a summer scrapbook. I actually didn't get this magazine for maybe a few years after it come out, cause I was only like 10. It was in some hand-me-downs from some family members. I don't know if I kept this on me during the summer like I did the first magazine, I probably did. Looking back over this article it really takes you back to days of phone cards and early online computer accounts.

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
I did a write up about this book not to long ago. But I thought it was a perfect adult book for the list, I finally have a good adult book to add to the summer list. Allen casts that magic realism spell on a lake in Georgia, is that the right term magic realism? There is a sadness to the book, but the descriptions of summer just put you in a summer mood.

What books are your favorites to read during the summer? What was a favorite summer read of yours as a child? Let me know in the comments.
Hope you guys have a good week, read lots, and God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

The Ninja Writer's Library- Mystic Women

Hello you awesome bookworms,

In this installation of the library the theme is mystical women. We travel to the treets of New Oreleans to a story book inspired world. So follow me as we dive back into the pages.

Spirits, Hurricanes, and the Krewe of Ghoul by Deanna Chase

I was intrigued by the description of this story when I was trying desperately to find something new to read from the library. A tale set at Halloween with vampires, count me in. This was a short story set in the world of Pyper Rayne, which is set in New Orleans. She gets invited to a Vampire themed float and gets more than she bargained for.
This was a quick read given it was a few chapter long short story. I loved it was set in New Orleans, it's on my list of places I want to visit. I also enjoyed the antics of the ghost Ida May, who is lively for a dead chick.
There is a bit of adult content, but it's a parade on Bourbon Street what do you expect. I've watched live cams there during Mardi Gras so I know what I'm talking about. As I usually do I just breezed past these parts.
It was a nice intro to this character and her world, and a nice little read to pass the time.

Spirits, Stilettos, and a Silver Bustier (Pyper Rayne #1) by Deanna Chase

Reading the short story above made me interested in reading the first book, which luckily the library had. In this book we have Pyper trying to find a murderer without becoming a victim herself.
A very interesting cast of characters. Pyper a medium, who owns a coffee shop and does body painting, Jade a witch who works at the coffee shop and is high up in her coven, Ida May the shop's ghost who causes mischief and flirts with the cute guys, well as much as you can when your a ghost who can't be seen by normal people.

I found this book to be the right amount of strange and amusing , especially where Ida May was involved. I may go back and read the Jade books that came before.

Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin

This is the first book in the Raine Benares Series. This might be my first fantasy novel in a while, as in the old school medieval setting. *Checks book journal* Yeah if you count Howl's Moving Castle and Stardust it's been since last year. I use to eat fantasy novels up, luckily Captain was my enabler.
I have to say I like the main character. Raine is one spunky chick. She can take care of herself, she's loyal to those she loves, and has a cat that likes her neighbor more. Sadly it's her caring for her friends that gets her into the trouble she finds... see what I did there. *points to the title of book*
This I think is the first time I've seen goblins be sexy. They are described as an alluring race. I never thought I would see this. All this time thier the annoying blame things you start out fighting in a game, now their hot, gotta love fantasy...

Spelled (The Storymakers) by Betsy Schow

Continuing on the path of mystical females and first books in a series we come to Dorthea a princess of Emerald who in wanting her circumstances to change breaks her world. Defiantly a be careful what you wish for moment.

Dorthea lives in a fairytale world that puts me in the mind of the Shrek and Ella Enchanted movies. All the famous fairytales and stories coexist here where they apparently believe in the great Storymakers who write the rules and happily ever afters of this world. Dorthea like her mother and female ancestors before are forced to forever remain inside the castle away from flame for fear of some curse put on them by a witch. I'd go crazy. I mean I can be a homebody, but forever trapped inside. I mean at least there are credit cards in this realm so she could order things if she wished.
This was a nice reworking of the fairy tales we know, I loved language this world had very fairytale themed. This is another series I may if I get the chance continue to read.

I hope you enjoyed that romp through literature. I hope you find something fun to read this weekend, and may God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer

AARC 2019

Hello my geeky friends,

Saturday my peeps and I attended the Asheville Anime Regional Convention (AARC), it was a world of anime, video games, and just plain geekiness. But before we get to the fun of the day let's look at our players:

Fangirl is rocking her own design of Steven Universe's Rose Quartz, a dark Rose Quartz. She painted the shield herself.

Econut and we'll call this friend Audette went as Bowser and a Evil Peach.

Econut is proud of the Chomp she painted on her vest and the shoes she painted:

Yours truly went as the Doctor. Geronimo! I went with a bow tie Fangirl found for me. I'm gonna use the homemade one for Pumpkinfest this year. Despite it being warm I surprisingly didn't get too hot in my layers.

Ok now you know your characters, lets get on with the tale of our day.  Fangirl and I both left things at our houses my sonic and her shield, luckily we were not far from my house when we had to turn back, but Fangirl's place was halfway across the county. After gathering all our forgotten goods we finally met up with the other two members of our party halfway back the other side of the county, only to be separated again cause their car was unable to move as fast as Fangirl's. It all finally come together when we all met up in the parking lot, and late our Marshmallow Rainbow Maids Cafe reservation, never fear we managed to get another slot.

There was a good crowd at the con...

...and lots of costumes. I saw Deodorant Man at one point (see last years post).

After making a reservation we watched a little of the lip synch battle which Audette had wanted to see. After our brief respite we did a walk through of the Artist Alley. We ran into Amanda Churi the indie Author we've ran into the last few cons we've been to. I purchased the third and final book in her book series The Twisted Trilogy: In Eden's Shadow. Check out her work the trilogy has made for an interesting read.

The best line heard at the con was a girl in a corset who'd said "Goodbye organs, Hello beauty." I got three "Fezzes are cool", and 2 people saying Eccleston was an underrated Doctor, very true.

We went to the Plus Size Cosplay panel were the host we'll call her Velma told us of her struggles of being a plus size cosplayer. I applaud her for telling her story and trying to make plus sized cosplayers the social norm. As a plus size cosplayer myself I'd like to see this. 
After this panel we headed to the Marshmallow Rainbow Maids Cafe room. As we waited we saw the profiles of each maid on the wall. Econut said it'd be funny if we got Maid Gaki, the Sukeban (Gangsta Type). Guess who we got?

When we went in we were given sticks with streamers and bells on them, cat toys as one maid called them, so we could cheer on the maids performance. Which we happily did. after the performance the maids took our order and served us all while we engaged in a game with Maid Gaki called What Do You Meme? We shared a table with a woman dressed as a cat and a  red Power Ranger, who told me David Tennant was going to be at a nearby con, and I'm like put a knife in my heart why don't ya!

Trinkets from the Rainbow Maids

After we got a pic with our maid and returned the cat toys,  we went back to the stage area to watch some of the Asheville Kendo Club demonstrations. After watching some audience members whacking club members with sticks we cruised the dealers area. I got me some more dice and a couple Yugioh cards to add to my collection.

Worn out from our wanderings we sat and watched a bit of A Taste of Asia Dance Fitness while waiting for the Cosplay Contest, only at a con will you see a fitness group with a Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, and Link, Bob Ross, and Dinosaur dancing to the side, did I mention Bob Ross was doing the floss? Again only at a con.

Fangirl bid us adieu as she went to get ready for the contest, then Econut and Audette went to find a place Econut could smoke. So I was the lone picture taker for the group. Fangirl was in the beginners section and I think she did her poses perfectly:

Sadly she didn't place, but she did get a nice applause. I didn't enter cause I figured my Doctor costume would place. The big story was during the journeyman level. A Spiderman Noir had just gone up and he was followed by a Spider Gwen, this also happened in the beginners. As this Spider Gwen was doing her poses Noir gets back on stage and proposes to her:

And if you couldn't tell she said yes. Like I've said only at a con.

We did one more spin through Artist Alley and then we parted ways with Econut and Audette. I have to say a con is more fun when you're in a group of peeps.

Fangirl and I decided to go to this Japanese eatery called Waku Waku, they were offering a discount for AARC cosplayers, and we weren't the only ones. It was like a mini AARC after party. Unfortunately the sudden flux of customers had the small staff swamped trying to keep up orders, so there was a wait for food. We ordered some Takoyaki: Japanese Octopus balls, for our appetizer, not only were these my first octopus balls this was also my first time tasting their Waku Waku sauce. They were good. If I go back may have to get some more. Fangirl and I got the Katsu-Don, she got the pork , I got chicken. It was okay just didn't realize it'd be smothered with onions. I just scrapped it off and added some Waku Waku sauce to the rice so it wasn't just plain rice.

So it was a fun time at the con, looking forward to next year's. I hope you guys have a good week, for those who celebrate Happy Independence Day, and may God bless you!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer